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Help with a word - what does decompensate mean in psych?

Discussion in 'Physical & Sexual Health' started by Tightrope, Mar 6, 2014.

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  1. Tightrope

    Tightrope
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    What does decompensate mean as it would relate to a psychological condition or event?

    Thank you.
     
    #1 Tightrope, Mar 6, 2014
  2. confuzzled82

    confuzzled82
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    declining, going backwards, not good, getting worse...
     
    #2 confuzzled82, Mar 6, 2014
  3. Tightrope

    Tightrope
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    Thanks. Is a meltdown "of sorts" included in this nomenclature? People today seem to use meltdown rather than nervous breakdown, neither of which are appropriate mental health terms, though they get the idea across.
     
    #3 Tightrope, Mar 7, 2014
  4. Chip

    Chip
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    Here's a definition with a little more application to psychology.

    Think about it as a circumstance where whatever ways you have of handling stressful situations are no longer working for one reason or another. Maybe those ways of dealing are healthy, maybe not so much, but in any case, something is changing and your normal means of dealing with challenging issues (stress, difficult situations) is no longer functional and the result is basically some sort of psychological disturbance.

    So yes, a sort of meltdown or breakdown of sorts is essentially the byproduct of decompensation.

    Keep in mind that a meltdown isn't inherently a bad thing. It could set the stage for a shift into a healthier way of being, or bring awareness to something that was locked up inside, or bring about greater access to emotions. That isn't to say that they are unpleasant and can present in difficult ways, but it's basically the way our mind processes challenges when our normal method of doing so fails for one reason or another.

    Hope that helps!
     
    #4 Chip, Mar 7, 2014
  5. Tightrope

    Tightrope
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    Framed that way, it does!
     
    #5 Tightrope, Mar 8, 2014
  6. Ettina

    Ettina
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    The way I use meltdown, it refers to a temporary outburst, while decompensating is more long-term.

    So, for example, if a person freaks out and screams at someone for 3 hours straight, and then is fine later on, that would be a meltdown.

    If they never used to scream at people, but for the past month they've had a screaming episode every 2-3 days, that would be decompensating.
     
    #6 Ettina, Mar 8, 2014
  7. Foxface

    Foxface
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    Decompensation is a deterioration of functioning of some sort. (in this case the mind or psyche)

    I see decompensation pretty much every day in the hospital when I assess people I have assessed before. You can see a rampant change, a lowering in functioning and possibly a lowering of the ability to care for the self. Often you'll see a period of fatigue and heightened sense following decompensation because decompensation rarely lasts forever unless there is an organic brain disorder or a cognitive disorder that is progressive and incurable.

    There have been a few of my cases where I have literally watched decompensation occur in front of me...it's a hard thing to manage
     
    #7 Foxface, Mar 8, 2014
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